In my last blog entry, I talked about the whispers that now seem to be manifesting into a defense for Luis Negron, the man accused in the hit-and-run death of Angel Arce Torres.

A confession made under duress, lawyers claim.

The inappropriate presence of the victim's son in the vicinity of the interview, they add.

Not true -- on either count, Police Chief Daryl Roberts said when we talked tonight.

Roberts said he is 100 percent certain that his officers did nothing to violate Negron's rights.

And those whispers and lawyer's claims? Just the latest example of a man who failed to take responsibility when he hit Angel Arce Torres once again failing to take responsibility for his actions, Roberts said.

Fair enough.

But, I told him, it's no secret that the department was under pressure to solve a case that drew national attention when a video showed people walking past Torres' broken body.

That kind of stress could drive any officer, any department to overzealously securing a confession.

Roberts conceded to the pressure, but insisted it wasn't unique to the Torres case. The department, he insisted, is under pressure to solve all homicides."

"The bottom line is that he killed a man, that he ruined a city's reputation and hurt a whole community and now he and his lawyers are making all kinds of claims so as not to take responsibility."

It's a weak defense, Roberts said. And a false one.

I hope he's right.

I hope -- for the sake of the family, the city and the department -- that they've got the right man and that everything was done by the book.

Outside the court, attorney Gerald Klein said he has yet to see a copy of
his client's statement to police, but was concerned about the circumstances
that led to it. Klein also said he has heard that members of the victim's
family may have been in the police interview room when Negron made his
statement.

"It would be highly unusual, if not unprecedented," he
said.

Indeed it would.

When I called Arce earlier this week, he denied he was at HPD while Negron was
being questioned. He denied it again today when Courant reporter Mark Spencer asked.

Channel 61 reporter Narmeen Choudhury filed an interesting update to my column and her follow-up segment on Denise Viera, the federal housing official who owns the Broadview Terrace eyesore.

Apparently, Choudhury reported Wednesday, Viera -- who works in Washington -- insists she's been in Hartford for more than a week and that her outstanding citations totaling nearly $700 have been resolved.Turns out, someone's either a little confused or straight up fibbing.

I checked with the city today, and they said they have no record of payment.

Now about those claims that she's been in town. That was not only news to me, since I went to her house on several occasions -- but also to her hawk-eyed neighbors.

Just to be sure, I stopped by again this morning. First thing I noticed was how amazing it is that she's able to go in and out of her house without disturbing any of the dirt on her run-down porch.

I knocked, and rang the door-bell that I wasn't sure worked. I also left my card with a request to call me when she was home. So far, nothing.

So what's the deal Denise? Is the check in the mail? Are you hiding in there?

First, it started with a reporter breaking into the Today Show this morning to breathlessly report President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor -- a woman, the reporter said, whose parents were immigrants from wait for it, wait for it, Puerto Rico.

Really?

Then, the New York Times writes its story of record -- only to have to add this later:

Correction: May 16, 2009An article on Friday about Judge Sonia Sotomayor, a possible candidate for nomination to the Supreme Court, referred incorrectly to her parents. As people who moved to New York from Puerto Rico, they were United States citizens. They were not "immigrants."

Get out!

Even her alma mater, Princeton University, couldn't get it right -- and those are some of the best and brightest.

Here's the Daily Princetonian's correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Sotomayor's
parents were immigrants. In fact, since they were from Puerto Rico,
they were U.S. citizens and not immigrants.

So, here's a bit of a refresher folks.

Puerto Rican's are not immigrants.

No green card necessary, I swear.

In fact, for good or bad -- and there's lots of debate about this -- Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States.

Puerto Rican's have been U.S. citizens since ta-da -- 1917.

That's 92 years people...isn't it about time we get this right already?

In my defense, the mailboxes -- like just about everything else around here these days -- were moved in preparation for Channel 61's arrival. And so, out of sight, out of mind.

But I'm glad I checked. Stuck in the middle of the small pile was a thank you note from Linda Weidemier. Linda is Bryon Schiffres, the little boy I wrote about a while back who was battling cancer at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center.

In part, the note read "We still go into CCMC twice a week, and know there will be times we will have to live there again in the future, but it's good to be back in our house!"

When Viera and I spoke last week, she was unapologetic. But what a difference a few days make: A neighbor emailed to say the lawn was mowed Monday by another neighbor who's done yard work for Viera in the past.

Good start. Now what about the deteriorating porch, the dangling gutter and the broken windows?

And how's about paying up on the nearly $700 in fines and penalties she still owes the city?

Here's what I'm wondering -- what incentive does Viera have if no one is collecting? And how many other homeowners owe the city?

* I am deeply saddened that the legislators of the state of CT have walked away from justice. No surprise at all that the Democrats just happened to have it voted on at the end of a short week just before a long holiday weekend to minimize news coverage.

For certain murders and other crimes there is no other penalty that will serve justice other than the death penalty (DP). It transcends national borders, races and cultures. The Iraqi's are up in arms that Americans convicted of premeditated murder and rape have been sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) and lesser sentences.The issue here is justice, not revenge, nor many of the other arguments that the anti-death penalty abolitionists use as inappropriate arguments to take the focus away from the critical issue. I have found all of their arguments to be intellectually and philosophically dishonest and off point. Their main concerns appears to be the protection of criminals and saving money. Justice and what is right and moral never appear to be part of their arguments, When a family member is murdered it destroys a portion of our society-all the potential of those taken away in a cruel fashion is obliterated. Those murdered can never grow and contribute to society.Those who knew them can never hold them, spend time with them, and see what they would add to their family life and society in general. Interestingly a poor argument made by many of the abolitionists is that life in prison without the possibility of parole is a "worse" punishment than death-if they are so magnanimous and forgiving why are they opting for a punishment that is worse, i.e., LWOP instead of the DP. In addition the problem with the legislature is just that....the legislature. Next year if there is no death penalty we will see a move afoot to lessen the sentences of those sentenced to LWOP to "save money". This is not theoretical as it is now being discussed in other states as the prison now do not want to pay the health care costs of an aging prison population.The legislators want us to take years to talk about the killers and allow them to utilize our resources when these animals have broken a sacrosanct law of our society. Once you have broken this rule you have forfeited your rights to live among us-life is that precious-there is only way to lose that privilege and it is to take another person's life unlawfully (MURDER). The death penalty is lawful execution, though those in the Judiciary Committee do their best to make it nearly impossible to implement and then tell us "it doesn't work-we should abolish it"-it doesn't work because they have stood in the way for the past 20 years. They are excellent at pretending that they care, but they have a predetermined agenda and outcome. The public hearing saw them keep the public defenders office up for several hours so they could pontificate on many issues that are off the point. The point should be what is just and what is right, but the Judiciary Committee and the Public defender's office have little interest in victims. To them we are much like the homeless in large cities, the Judiciary and Public defender's office walks by us afraid to look us in the eyes and then make public pronouncement about how bad it is that there are homeless (victims). In James this is referred to as faith without works, in this case they pretend to have faith but do nothing to help victims. In fact they are going out of their way to decrease the budget for the Office of the Victim Advocate by 20% while increasing the budget for NEW programs to serve criminals.

But that's not all folks...DeSanti also said they're going to cut back the brush that grew while the field sat as the construction project's staging area. And, they're going to put a fence between the outfield and the disabled-accessible walkway.

Have I said finally, yet?

If Diggs does everything they say, Coach Joe Lombardo told me, "I'll be satisfied." (A quick pause here to give kudos to Coach Lombardo, who was the driving force behind making things right for the students and athletes of Hartford High. Hartford schools need more like Coach Lombardo.)

As hopeful as Coach Lombardo is, he said he didn't want to get too hopeful until he sees the finished product.

Excuses for why Hartford High's baseball field has yet to be fixed keep coming. Read the first column here, the second here.

It's not getting better, though.

I thought Diggs -- the
construction firm in charge of the school construction project-- was already
getting a pass from the city. Now city officials
arewringing their hands over whether
Diggs is really responsible for making the field right.

In response to an email from council member Matt Ritter, who seems to be the
only one in any leadership role in the city that gets it on this issue, Mayor Eddie Perez claims there's a question
about whether the baseball field was "part of -- or impacted by -- the
construction project."

Huh?

El Jefe continues: "This may have complicated by arrangement with the Mark Twain House and
the ADA requirements for the fields." Double huh.

But hey, not to worry, he's asked Diggs to clarify. (Diggs rep Joe DeSanti, meanwhile, claims he and a contractor will be back out on the field on Friday. Read: Don't hold your breath anyone.)

Really Eddie? This field is years overdue. Are we really going to waste more
time reviewing blue prints and contracts?

Since doing the right thing is clearly beyond so many leaders in this city,
here's an idea: Pretend it's an election year. Pretend these kids are voters, and
just get it done!

Angel Arce Torres, the man who was struck by a hit-and-run driver on Park Street a year ago died last night.

Mayor Eddie Perez released a rather self-serving statement about all the "good" that came from that disgraceful incident where Torres was left laying in the street for minutes without anyone coming to his aid.

But of course that didn't make El Jefe's press release: "Hartford Crime Stoppers and Hartford Cares are two direct and very positive results of the Park Street hit and run demonstrating that a community cannot be defined by a single act or action."

Still trying to convince the world that Hartford didn't display a shameful and inexcusable lack of heart that day, huh Eddie?

Well, save it.

Remember this when public officials try and convince everyone that the city didn't deserve the black eye it got after the video of the accident went national: People walked right past an old and dying man on the street that day like he was nothing more than a piece of litter.

They were afraid. They didn't know. People did call 911. Save all those lame excuses people. They meant nothing when Angel Arce Torres was suffering, alone, on that street. They mean even less now.

In his grief and anger, his son uttered this obvious truth: people are hiding these men.

You better believe it.

Nothing remains a secret in this small city for long.

If people wanted to do the right thing, whoever killed -- that's right, now it's murder -- would have been arrested long ago.

We let this man down once. Let's not do it again. Step up. Give Angel Arce Torres the justice that we robbed him of in life, in death.

The headlines are still dominated by news of the tragic murder of
Johanna Justin-Jinich, the 21-year-old Wesleyan student who police say was fatally shot by a man against whom she had previously filed an harassment complaint.

Without a doubt, it is a story of a shocking and mindless murder that deserves to be told.

But what of the other pretty and promising young women whose deaths go uncovered or under-covered?

Don't their stories deserve to be told too?

Don't their lives matter?

On Valentine's Day, Tiana Notice, a 25-year-old University of Hartford graduate student was stabbed to death just hours after filing a complaint against an ex-boyfriend she already had a restraining order against. Plainville police arrested him the next day, after her death.In August, Ashley Peoples, 22, was allegedly kidnapped and killed by an ex-boyfriend.

Together, the stories of the lives and deaths of these two young women barely amounted one day's coverage of Justin-Jinich.

So why the disproportionate coverage? Is it about race, class or both?

When it's about missing children, they call it the "missing white girl syndrome." It's an unfortunate phrase for the even more unfortunate and unequal handing of lost lives. It's also why this site was created.

So why do some lives, and deaths seem to matter more? And isn't it time we start to change that?

(Jinich photo courtesy of Facebook. Family photos of Notice and Peoples.)